Originally Posted By SuperDry <a href="http://www.scmp.com/topnews/ZZZMIYDQ3ME.html" target="_blank">http://www.scmp.com/topnews/ZZ ZMIYDQ3ME.html</a> "Daily attendance at Hong Kong Disneyland has consistently fallen below 10,000 since the Lunar New Year, with only about 7,000 people per day visiting the park during the mainland's Labour Day "golden week" holiday, a Disney staff member says. "The source, who has access to attendance data, said there were fewer than 7,000 visitors on the first day of the seven-day holiday period, and only slightly more on the remaining days. The theme park is targeting 5.6 million visitors in its first year of operation, or an average of more than 15,300 each day. "Another source close to the park's finance division also said occupancy rates at its two hotels were between 30 per cent and 60 per cent. Wow - what to say? I think the numbers speak for themselves. Those attendance figures almost make DCA look crowded.
Originally Posted By wildghostz They planned to build a park on few attractions that was to reduce risk, however have they thought about there may be higher risk on low attendancy? So that balancing everything out HKDL will become another DP?
Originally Posted By leemac There is no doubt that the park has been quiet since (Western) New Year but I'm always skeptical about the coverage of HKDL by SCMP. It has been notoriously bias against the resort since Day One. The park has overhauled its marketing and sales team recently and I am sure that is in light of marketing missteps and mistakes by those charged with promoting the park.
Originally Posted By wildghostz plus HK media did the most job on lowering the reputation of the this park. It is the way that they most likely to report the most disgusting thing to attract public attention.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Doesn't surprise me... I was here on Easter Sunday (see my photo album/shameless plug) and the park was rather slow which was surprising to me since it was a "Special Day Ticket" day, meaning, pre-dated tickets only.
Originally Posted By irishfan So attendance isn't as expected, but how is the park doing financially? I mean, DLP was pretty much a fincancial disaster from day one, and after 8 months of opperation it was widely known to be.
Originally Posted By WorldDisney It's a horrible sucky park!! We been saying this for a looong time now and its attendance is simply reflecting people's perception of what a cheap park it really is.....yeah, no surprise there, never has been . Get your 'stuff' together Disney and build a park that people can enjoy for more than 3 hours.
Originally Posted By WorldDisney BTW, they can market this park to death, but like DCA proves it doesn't matter how you say something if you really have nothing to say in the first place. HKDL is the latest example of marketing something that most people could really could care less about in terms of Disney parks.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< So attendance isn't as expected, but how is the park doing financially? >>> The Disney CFO (Tom Staggs) revealed during last month's earnings conference call that Disney is at risk of covenant default on $230 million of the debt for HKDL if they fail to reach the 5.6 million attendance target for the first year. Put simply, $230 million (of the $750 million or so total debt) was borrowed on the condition that they meet their attendance targets, and if they don't, they have to re-negotiate the debt with the lenders. Furthermore, both he and Iger said that they are relying on the revamped marketing efforts and the new attractions in order to reach the 5.6 million target. It's quite obvious at this point that attendance is a problem and is below expectations, and this is even after they've stacked the deck with things like last fall where some days the line at the ticket booths for CM's and their friends and family to get their free tickets dwarfed the ones for the paid guests. Remember that free admissions for CMs and their friends and family count as turnstile clicks just as much as paid guests do (someone please correct me if I have this wrong for HKDL). I hope they get it in gear. It sounds like they recognize that they have two problems: a market perception issue and an attraction count issue and are working on both.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Remember that free admissions for CMs and their friends and family count as turnstile clicks just as much as paid guests do (someone please correct me if I have this wrong for HKDL).>> No they don't count.
Originally Posted By SuperDry Really? This is different from the way they are counted in the US, isn't it?
Originally Posted By leemac <<I hope they get it in gear. It sounds like they recognize that they have two problems: a market perception issue and an attraction count issue and are working on both.>> I'm still not convinced that the attraction count is as big an issue as the perception of the park. MD Bill Earnest has refocused the marketing efforts for the park. Time will tell. I found it interesting that we still haven't announced the opening date for the three new attractions. It is still listed as July.
Originally Posted By leemac <<This is different from the way they are counted in the US, isn't it?>> Internally Disney do not count admissions that fall below a certain discount. Free tickets don't count. As they don't release their attendance numbers domestically it is a moot point though. If you think about it from an internal reporting POV every freebie is an anomaly and reduces your average ticket price.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< I'm still not convinced that the attraction count is as big an issue as the perception of the park. >>> But the perception that some hold that the park is only a half-day experience is directly related to attraction count, no? The problem with the low attraction count is that it's self-amplifying: on low attendence days (which appears to be the case more often than not), the fact that most attractions are literally or are close to being walk-ons means that one can literally see every single attraction in the park, watch the parades, eat two full meals, and STILL have hours left over. Each person that has this experience is going to mention it to everyone that asks them about their trip to HKDL, even if they otherwise had a good time. To the extent that this word of mouth puts downward pressure on future attendance, it only amplifies the problem. If every day's attendance was like it was over Lunar New Year, then the notion of "there's not enough to do" would not be an issue. <<< MD Bill Earnest has refocused the marketing efforts for the park. Time will tell. >>> Indeed!
Originally Posted By leemac <<But the perception that some hold that the park is only a half-day experience is directly related to attraction count, no? >> Most probably SuperDry. It becomes a vicious cycle. I still think that they bungled the initial marketing of the park and that has snowballed ever since. It reminds me so much of EDL's similar problems back in '92. But you are 100% right. If there aren't the bodies inside the park then you aren't going to get the queues and keep people in the park. I still think they were foolish to not offer an AP. Crazy in a city over 8 million people.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< <<This is different from the way they are counted in the US, isn't it?>> Internally Disney do not count admissions that fall below a certain discount. Free tickets don't count. As they don't release their attendance numbers domestically it is a moot point though. >>> I now realize that I didn't post my question precisely enough, so let me try again: - As far as HKDL goes, does the published goal of 5.6 million guests during the first year of operation include or exclude free admissions given to CMs and their friends and family? - As far as the debt instruments for HKDL that have first-year attendance covenants go, do the covenant terms include or exclude free admissions? - As far as the generally-reported attendance figures for the US parks that get reported in trade journals and the general press go, do they include or exclude free admissions, without regard to whether these are "official" figures or not and without regard to whether internal numbers used for certain planning functions use them? - As far as the daily attendance figures that are made available to the rank-and-file CM in the parks (or perhaps only leads) and leak out into public forums from time to time, do these include or exclude free admissions?
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< Most probably SuperDry. It becomes a vicious cycle. I still think that they bungled the initial marketing of the park and that has snowballed ever since. ... But you are 100% right. If there aren't the bodies inside the park then you aren't going to get the queues and keep people in the park. >>> I generally agree with what you've said. My only reservation is that this argument can be used by people that don't believe that reduced capital expenditure in the initial park build-out has at least a significant partial responsibility for the current problems. I fear that some people (especially those responsible for the initial capital outlay decisions or those that generally agree with the line of thinking that lead to them) are using the marketing mistakes to deflect attention away from the design and outlay mistakes that were made. Without fully coming to terms with the entirety of the mistakes that were made with recent park openings (specifically, DCA and HKDL), I'm afraid that certain flawed mentalities will continue to be in force within WDC and affect future decisions. <<< It reminds me so much of EDL's similar problems back in '92. >>> Attendance issues may be similar, but the capital outlay issues are completely opposite, are they not?
Originally Posted By leemac It does become a very delicate balancing act. I honestly wonder whether we will ever see another resort being developed anywhere by Disney. The capex required is just too high. It isn't as if they built HKDLR on the cheap. You have to get a base with which to get the registers ringing.
Originally Posted By leemac Bill Ernest still feels they are on target for 5.6m: <a href="http://money.cnn.com/services/tickerheadlines/for5/200606150159DOWJONESDJONLINE000367_FORTUNE5.htm" target="_blank">http://money.cnn.com/services/ tickerheadlines/for5/200606150159DOWJONESDJONLINE000367_FORTUNE5.htm</a>
Originally Posted By leemac SD, I can't respond to Post 16 but I'm sure you could have an informed guess as to which numbers the bankers are interested in.
